Post # 152 January 14, 2019

“Once Upon a Time: The Beginnings of Story”

Picture this: Og and Grog are sitting around the campfire one night, munching on mammoth sandwiches (hold the mayo!), when all of a sudden, Og gets up and starts dancing around the fire, gesturing, grunting and shrieking at the others.  He makes marks on a nearby stone, crude pictures of animals, with spears flying through the air.  He grunts some more, then repeats the whole litany again.

What’s going on?  Is it something Og ate?

No.  Og is engaged in telling a story.  I don’t know if this is how stories began but some experts think it may have.  In fact, storytelling predates even writing.  It’s even possible that Og and Grog were telling stories to their tribe mates before there was much of a language.

The first storytellers were oral artists, using whatever language they could cobble up, to explain just how the Big Hunt went down and how brave Og and Grog really were in chasing down that big woolly mammoth.  Perhaps their exploits got re-told often enough to get passed down through the generations, eventually evolving into a sort of fable or myth, lost in the mists of time. 

What good does this do the tribe?  What good do stories do for any of us, outside of entertainment (which is something not to be belittled)?  Stories help us make sense of natural phenomena.  Why does it always rain the day before the Big Hunt?  Why does the mammoth always run that way, and not this way?  What’s the best way, the way proven by experience and results, to corner a wounded animal, so it can’t get away?  Stories help us explain our experiences as humans and make sense of our times.  Man is pre-eminently a storytelling animal.  It seems to be hardwired into our brains and nervous systems.  I’m not sure if animals do this, but I do know that my 10-year old Pekingese dog can also tell a story, just with her big, sad, brown eyes.

According to Wikipedia, storytelling evolved to make use of certain common themes, conventions and practices.  These would make telling the story easier for the teller and make understanding and engaging with the story easier for the listener.    For instance, the Wikipedia article on storytelling talks about how common is the Rule of Three: ”Three brothers set out on a journey…three attempts are made…three riddles are asked.”

Themes help amplify a story, giving it substance and weight.  They may be a small part of the story or they may permeate the whole story, even be the story.  A hero journeys to a dangerous place.  He meets a great challenge.  He either defeats the challenge or fails magnificently, and is transformed in the process.  The Rule of Three again.  Setup, confrontation and resolution.  All good stories observe this convention, so it must be part of us.

These practices are true even in indigenous cultures.  For example, according to Wikipedia:

For indigenous cultures of the Americas, storytelling is used as an oral form of language associated with practices and values essential to developing one's identity. This is because everyone in the community can add their own touch and perspective to the narrative collaboratively – both individual and culturally shared perspectives have a place in the co-creation of the story. Oral storytelling in indigenous communities differs from other forms of stories because they are told not only for entertainment, but for teaching values.^[29] For example, the Sto:lo community in Canada focuses on reinforcing children's identity by telling stories about the land to explain their roles.^[29]

Furthermore, Storytelling is a way to teach younger members of indigenous communities about their culture and their identities. In one study, Navajos were interviewed about storytelling practices that they have had in the past and what changes they want to see in the future. They notice that storytelling makes an impact on the lives of the children of the Navajos. According to some of the Navajos that were interviewed, storytelling is one of many main practices that teaches children the important principles to live a good life.^[30] In indigenous communities, stories are a way to pass knowledge on from generation to generation.

Storytelling is an ancient and honorable tradition, although stories can be created for good or ill.  Recall the words of the Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”  Stories can be used to entertain, to enlighten…and also to obfuscate.  Like any tool Man uses, language and stories can be bent to many uses.

The next time you sit down at your computer to bang out a story, remember you’re part of an ancient tradition that dates back thousands, maybe tens of thousands of years.  Stories are powerful juju, so take care and take it seriously. 

The best stories, the ones we remember and tell our kids about, do a lot of things: they teach us, they entertain us, they enlighten us and they bring us together as a tribe against the forces of chaos and entropy.  That’s a lot of weight to carry for something that seems so ephemeral.

The next post to The Word Shed comes on January 21, 2019.

See you then.

Phil B.